Managers who ran St. Basil’s nursing home in Melbourne have asked to be excused from giving evidence following weeks of accusations that they were negligent. Vicki Kos and Kon Kontis were both in charge of the Fawkner nursing home when ...
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Dementia experts urge for health system ‘shake up’
Australia’s healthcare system will buckle under an increase in cases of Alzheimer’s disease unless systemic reform is introduced, experts have warned. The nation’s top brain doctors and advocates outlined a number of strategies to better treat the condition in the ...
More »Increased risk of abuse due to COVID-19: landmark report
Aged care residents faced an increased risk of abuse, delays in clinical assessments and forced admission into care during COVID-19, a new landmark report has detailed. The Older Person’s Advocacy Network (OPAN) released the first public insight into the experiences ...
More »St. Basil’s inquest: top health official unsure if surge workforce was up to scratch
Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton signed off on furloughing staff at St Basil’s despite being unaware of an inadequate surge workforce, an inquest has heard. During Melbourne's second wave of COVID-19, 50 residents died inside the Greek facility after ...
More »New film asks if smart home tech enriches older people’s lives?
During the first year of COVID-19, researchers installed smart home technologies into the households of older people to observe how digital devices impacted their lives. Smart Homes for Seniors, directed by Professor Sarah Pink, captured this journey through the eyes ...
More »Diet more powerful than drugs for anti-ageing
A nutritious diet could be more effective than drugs in preventing stroke, diabetes and heart disease, a new University of Sydney study has found. The research, published in Cell Metabolism, tested different combinations of three anti-ageing drugs with various mixtures ...
More »Residents begging for meals and medication: St Basil’s hearing continues
The daughter of two St Basil’s residents has painted a harrowing picture of the conditions that her parents lived in before they died from COVID-19. Branka Lyons told the coroners court that her father, Jakov Pucar, 90, was a “breathing ...
More »Shining a spotlight on women leaders in aged care: Nicky Howe
Women make up the absolute majority of the healthcare workforce in Australia. It is not even close. At last check, of the 366,000-odd aged care workers, nearly nine in 10 workers in aged care were female (87 per cent of ...
More »Scammers have stolen millions from older Australians in 2021
You receive a strange phone call from an unknown number. On the other end of the line is an automated voice that delivers an urgent warning saying that your internet will be disconnected in 24 hours. Panicked, you dial a ...
More »Calls for human rights to be embedded into new aged care act
Leading advocates are in talks with the federal government about implementing the first recommendation of the royal commission, a new Aged Care Act. A coalition of 25 peak bodies, including the Older Person’s Advocacy Network (OPAN), has said that they ...
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